


One Day At A Time

by artikgato



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Boys Kissing, Getting Together, M/M, Making Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 05:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14888303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: There was a long, painful silence. Gears turned in Souji’s head.“Yosuke...do you have a crush on a guy?” he asked, very carefully.





	One Day At A Time

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try something different, so I set this one very early on in the story, early in Yosuke and Yu/Souji's friendship, specifically before they meet Kanji. (Probably right before Kanji starts showing up on the Midnight Channel.) I don't necessarily think that Yosuke would have been more or less into the idea of dating a guy before being confronted with Kanji's dungeon and Shadow, but I DO think he would have been less defensive and weird and homophobic about things.

It wasn’t until a loud crack of thunder startled them both that either Souji or Yosuke realized what time it was or, in fact, that it had even started raining to begin with. With a sheepish laugh, Yosuke paused the game they were playing together, while Souji stood up, joints popping as he rose, and made his way over to the window. Pushing the curtain aside, he was greeted with thick sheets of rain pelting the glass, the nearby streetlight dim in the storm. 

“It’s really pouring,” he commented, looking from the window over to Yosuke, who was looking down at his phone.

“Yeah, and it’s gotten pretty late...man, where did the time go today?” he gave a sigh. “I know it’s been a few hours but it feels like we just started playing.” Souji nodded, letting the curtain fall back against the window, and made his way back over to where Yosuke was standing.

“Will you be okay going home in this rain?” he asked, and Yosuke shrugged.

“Didn’t bring an umbrella,” he admitted. “But I mean, I gotta go home, right? There’s school tomorrow and I didn’t bring an extra uniform or anything.”

“You could borrow one of mine,” Souji suggested, with a little smile. “We’re almost the same height and...so long as you don’t go falling into any trashcans it should be fine, right?”

“That was  _ one time _ ,” Yosuke protested, with a frown. “And yeah, I guess I could do that...better than trying to go home in  _ that _ mess. Let me just call my parents real quick.”

Souji sat back down on the floor in front of the TV, while Yosuke moved to the other side of the room to make his call. He tried not to listen in, he really did, but he was actually really excited at the prospect of having Yosuke sleep over. It should have been ridiculous - at age sixteen, he shouldn’t be so excited about something as mundane as a friend sleeping over, right? But Souji… hadn’t ever had any friends over. Not at any of the many houses he’d lived in with his parents, not at the lonely apartment he’d barely shared with his parents last year, and definitely not yet in the few months he’d been living in the Dojimas’ spare room. 

Yosuke was the first person he’d allowed himself to even  _ think _ of as a “friend” in a long, long time, in fact. Part of him was still wondering if that was even a good idea, but the warmth he’d felt when the Magician link had formed between them, the way he could feel his inner strength growing little by little the more time he spent with him...it wasn’t something he could ignore. Even if he was moving away next spring, he knew he’d regret it if he didn’t see this friendship through.

“My parents are cool with it,” Yosuke finally said, turning to him with a little grin. “Just gotta make sure I actually go to school tomorrow, haha.”

“Ah, darn, and here I was going to suggest that we skip and play games all day,” Souji replied. He’d been trying for sarcasm, but he could tell immediately that Yosuke had actually believed him, by the way his eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped.

“W-wha… really?” he asked, and he looked so hopeful that Souji almost wanted to go along with it. Almost.

“That was a joke, obviously,” he replied, with a bemused smile. Yosuke returned it, with a laugh.

“You can make jokes?” he ribbed, crossing the room and plopping down next to Souji on the floor. He picked up one of the discarded controllers. “So? Want to get back to kicking alien ass?”

“We do have homework,” Souji answered, glancing over his shoulder at the abandoned books sitting on the table behind them. Yosuke groaned

“Oh man, Partner. Were you gonna stay up all night doing your homework after I left?” he asked, and Souji nodded, serious. “Dude…”

“Grades are important,” Souji replied. “Were you going to turn in an incomplete assignment?”

“I mean, probably?” Yosuke answered. His vision slowly moved back to the paused game screen, before looking back at Souji with a pout. Souji sighed.

“Okay. We can at least finish this level, but then we really need to finish up that homework and go to bed,” Souji sighed, and Yosuke snorted.

“You sound like such an adult,” he mocked, hitting the button to unpause the game. 

“Just because I want to get good grades and enough sleep doesn’t mean I’m an  _ adult _ ,” Souji replied, with a huff. Nevertheless, he focused on the game, not wanting to let Yosuke down. 

It wasn’t until much later, after finishing the level and pouring over their homework for a while, that they noticed the storm start to subside, the rain petering out to a gentle hiss in the background. 

“Huh,” Yosuke commented, peering out the window. “I could probably walk home through this but… I mean, I already called and asked if I could stay over…” He turned back to Souji with a grin. Souji returned it. 

They got showers and changed into pajamas. Yosuke borrowed a pair of blue sweat pants and a yellow shirt from Souji, who claimed that he’d only worn them once because he thought they were too colorful. Yosuke gently ribbed him for having a terrible fashion sense and only wearing black and white and gray. The spare futon was retrieved from downstairs and a note was left for Dojima, explaining the situation, and before long they were both climbing into their respective futons.

“Man, I’m beat. All that homework really takes it out of you, huh?” Yosuke asked, and Souji chuckled. 

“If you’re tired after that little bit of homework, I have bad news for you,” he joked, and Yosuke laughed. 

“Thanks for letting me stay over, and letting me borrow your clothes and stuff,” he said.

“Any time, Partner,” Souji answered. He noticed Yosuke sit up and look over at him, and he mirrored him, looking concerned. “What is it?”

“O-oh, it’s nothing I just...you’ve never actually called  _ me _ Partner before,” Yosuke stammered, and it was hard to tell in the dim light, but Souji thought he might be blushing. “It was just kind of startling, y’know?”

“Hmm, then I’ll be sure to warn you next time,” Souji replied, a teasing lilt to his voice that he couldn’t quite help, as he laid back down. “Yosuke, I’m about to use a term of endearment on you, so prepare yourself.”

“I-it’s not a term of endearment!” Yosuke sputtered, looking somewhere between embarrassed and offended. “It’s just a nickname!”

“So, should I not call you ‘Partner’ then?” Souji asked, turning on his side to face Yosuke.

“W-well...I wouldn’t go  _ that _ far,” Yosuke replied, settling back down with a huff. “It’s alright, just...like I said, it startled me a little. Now that I know to expect it I’ll be fine.”

“Right,” Souji replied, barely managing not to laugh. He laid back down flat on his back, listening to Yosuke fidget around. Even though it was nearly summer, the rain made it cool enough for them both to want to sleep under blankets, and he could hear Yosuke’s rustling around.

“Sorry, is your futon uncomfortable? There’s always the couch…” Souji suggested.

“Nah, s’fine,” Yosuke replied. “It always takes me awhile to get comfortable enough to sleep.”

“Ah,” Souji replied, laying his head back against the pillow and closing his eyes in an attempt to get to sleep. For some reason, though, he just couldn’t get his nerves to calm down. It was preposterous really - sixteen years old, and he was excited about the fact that he had a friend sleeping over. (Part of him was still marvelling at the fact that he had a friend  _ at all _ , while a stubborn part of his brain reminded him over and over why he didn’t have  _ more _ friends - all the tearful goodbyes and unfulfilled promises to write or text or stay in touch, over the years, as he was unexpectedly pulled out of school after school after school because of his parents…)

“Hey, Partner?” Yosuke asked, breaking him out of his spiral of dark thoughts. His eyes fluttered open, and he turned on his side again, to indicate that he was listening. “I know I already asked you this, but seriously this time - Chie or Yukiko?”

“This again?” he couldn’t help sighing. “I told you before, Yosuke - neither.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got that part,” Yosuke replied, also turning on his side to face him. Souji could hear the frown in his voice. “But I mean, if you HAD to pick one of them or - like, don’t even pick one of them. Do you like tomboys, or girly girls?”

“Both types of girls have their charms,” Souji replied, carefully, also frowning. “Why are you asking?”

“I dunno, I just guess… I mean, a guy like you, with the good looks and the grades and the charm...you’re gonna end up dating someone  _ eventually _ . I guess I’m just curious about who it might end up being?” Yosuke finally answered. 

In truth, Souji didn’t really think he had a ‘type’. He’d had crushes before, sure, but they had all been short-lived, fleeting things that had either gone away on their own or hadn’t gone anywhere anyway because he’d moved away too soon. He thought back over the people he’d had any sort of inkling towards and...there wasn’t really a pattern, at least not one that he could sense. They hadn’t all been pretty, or shy, or well-mannered...heck, they hadn’t even all been  _ girls _ . 

It didn’t matter, anyway. He had an answer to Yosuke’s question.

“I won’t be dating anyone,” he said, and surprised himself with how resigned he sounded. “Not when I’m just going to move away in the spring.”

“Dude!” Yosuke protested, propping himself up on his elbow with an incredulous look. “Whaddya mean you aren’t going to date anybody? Even if you are leaving in the spring, you could still definitely get a date between now and then. A bunch of dates, probably!”

“I don’t want to break anyone’s heart,” Souji replied, with a sigh.  _ Or my own _ , he didn’t add.

“Aw, c’mon, man, it’s just a high-school romance, you’d probably end up breaking up after graduation anyway. Live a little!” Yosuke said, lowering himself back down to flop on his back. “I’ll bet you’ve already gotten notes in your locker.”

He had, but he wasn’t about to tell Yosuke that. 

“So?” he asked, and Yosuke sighed.

“Seriously, dude? If I was in your position I’d go out with all of ‘em, no questions asked. Everybody knows you’re leaving next year anyway, right?” he asked. Souji was well aware of that fact. It wasn’t like he was broadcasting it through the halls or anything, but the rumor mill at Yasogami High was a fast-moving one, and that fact had gotten around fairly soon after his transfer. 

And yet, he still got notes in his locker. Huh.

“I suppose…” Souji started, chewing on his lip a little. “If I was upfront with the person I was dating, about not wanting a long-distance relationship when I return to the city...I guess it wouldn’t be so bad?”

“That’s the spirit!” Yosuke said, and Souji could hear the rather infectious grin on his face. “Now, c’mon Partner, spill the beans. What’s your type?”

“I guess I don’t really have one,” Souji replied, after a moment of deliberation. Yosuke sighed.

“Way to not answer,” he said, and Souji shrugged. “You’ve at least had crushes on people before, right? What were they like?” 

“Hmm, well…” Souji started, thinking back. He supposed he’d start with the most recent ones. Despite trying hard not to, he’d found himself idly daydreaming about a few classmates and upperclassmen at his last school in the city - he  _ was _ a healthy teenage boy, after all.

“There was a girl in my class back at the city...really cute, short hair, glasses, good grades. We studied together a lot,” he started.

“Okay, so you like nerds?” Yosuke asked, and Souji shook his head. 

“There was also another girl I liked, with long hair, always up in a ponytail. She was on the track team, and it  _ showed _ ,” he continued. Yosuke made a noise of confusion.

“Huh,” he replied, after a minute. “Yeah, I guess you really  _ don’t _ have a type, do you? Well, what made you like the two of them?”

“They were both very kind people,” Souji started, musing. “And they were both very good at what they did, but...they just didn’t have the confidence to see that for themselves, I think. They never believed me when I told them that, in any case.” Souji continued. Then, a lightbulb seemed to go on above his head. “Oh! Come to think of it, Ito-sempai was like that, too.”

“Oh?” Yosuke asked, and he sounded like his curiosity was piqued. “An upperclassman, huh? What was this Ito like?”

“Oh, he was really, really good at-” Souji started, but was almost immediately interrupted by Yosuke all but squawking out a startled “HE?!”

“Uh…” Souji started, but Yosuke cut him off again, sitting bolt upright. 

“What do you mean HE?! Y-you didn’t tell me you were-” Yosuke started, but Souji, now worried that they’d wake up Nanako, sat up and made a frantic shushing motion at him. Yosuke at least looked sheepish, managing to stop and swallow a deep breath. “S-sorry…”

“I…” Souji started, but he was slowly breaking out into a cold sweat. He was well aware of the fact that his sexuality was likely to get him in trouble - or at least a bunch of scornful looks - in a small town like this. He’d thought that maybe, since Yosuke was like him and from a big city, maybe he’d at least be understanding if not supportive. He fought down the urge to just hide under the futon blanket. He’d let himself get too comfortable around Yosuke, and now their friendship was going to end before it had really had much time to grow, and-

“Whoa, whoa, Partner, it’s alright, I’m not mad or anything...just breathe, okay?” Yosuke’s voice broke through his sudden panic - so sudden, in fact, that Souji himself hadn’t even been aware that he was panicking. He took a deep breath and met Yosuke’s eyes, seeing the concern there even in the dim light. 

“Sorry,” he finally managed to huff out, becoming aware of how hard he was gripping the blankets in his lap and slowly releasing them. “I-I didn’t mean to spring that on you so suddenly, Yosuke. I just thought, you know, since you’re from the city too, you’d…”

“I-I’m not gay,” Yosuke protested, barely managing to keep his voice to a loud whisper. Souji shook his head.

“I wasn’t saying you were,” he replied, with a sigh. “I was just...I hoped you’d understand, or at least sympathize.”

“Oh,” Yosuke replied. “Yeah, okay.” It clearly wasn’t okay, but that was fine. At least the panic was fading from Souji’s nerves now - small blessings. He took a few more minutes to breathe deeply, keenly aware of how much Yosuke was fidgeting.

“If you want to move your futon further away, I don’t mind,” Souji said, startling Yosuke apparently out of some deep thoughts.

“What? No!” he protested. “Listen, I’m not worried about you. You had me all alone in another world for  _ hours _ and you didn’t jump me. Besides, Nanako’s right downstairs.

Souji just nodded. There was another uncomfortably long silence, during which Souji’s heart rate finally slowed down to something resembling normal. 

Yosuke immediately ruined it.

“Uh, so...h-how did you know liked that guy...what was his name, Ito?” he asked.

“Well, it felt the same as any other crush,” Souji responded, confused. “It didn’t feel any different from Mizawa or Ishido.”

“Who?” Yosuke asked.

“The two girls I told you about...the runner and the ‘nerd’ as you put it,” Souji explained. 

“Ah. Okay. So there was nothing different about it except it was a guy?” Yosuke asked.

“No?” Souji replied, confused.

“Nothing different at all? It felt like any other crush?” he asked.

“Yes,” Souji confirmed, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “Why?”

“N-no reason, just curious, s’all,” Yosuke answered, a little too quickly. 

There was a long, painful silence. Gears turned in Souji’s head.

“Yosuke...do you have a crush on a guy?” he asked, very carefully.

“Haha, what, no! Of course I don’t!” Yosuke replied, but his voice was a little too high in his very apparent nervousness.

“You  _ do _ ,” Souji replied, leaning a little over towards Yosuke’s futon. 

“I never said that,” Yosuke protested. “You’re jumping to conclusions!”

“Who is it?” Souji asked, suddenly very curious. “Have I met him?”

“Like I said, dude, I don’t!” Yosuke continued to protest. He was kind of cute, blushing like this.

“I won’t judge, and I won’t tell anyone. You can tell me, Yosuke,” Souji prodded, and Yosuke gulped.

“I really, really can’t,” he answered. Well that...that sealed it, didn’t it? 

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me,” Souji replied, sitting back into his own futon with a disappointed sigh. “If that’s what you really want. I won’t ask any more.” With that he grabbed the blanket and started to lay back down, before Yosuke shot his hand out and grabbed Souji’s wrist, prompting him to look up at him.

“It’s you!” he blurted out, frantic. “It’s you, okay? B-but it’s, it’s like...it’s probably not actually a crush, right? ‘Cause...I mean, I’ve never gone into another world and fought strange monsters with anyone  _ else _ before, so...so maybe this is just  _ how it is _ right?”

Souji understood. Souji was probably the only person in the world that  _ could _ understand, actually. He’d found his thoughts dwelling a lot on Yosuke as of late, and got the sense that eventually he might start to develop feelings for him, but it was just like Yosuke said: maybe this kind of almost literal ride-or-die friendship just had these kinds of feelings as a side effect? What if close friends just felt like this, and it wasn’t actually a crush but something much more innocent? Well, there was one way to find out.

“Do you want to kiss me?” Souji asked, and Yosuke turned bright red almost immediately.

“What, like, right  _ now _ ?” he asked, and Souji found himself laughing, because that answer was pretty telling. 

“Sure,” Souji replied. He leaned over into Yosuke’s personal space, propping himself up with one hand on the floor while the other reached up to sweep some bangs out of Yosuke’s face and curl around his cheek to the back of his neck, slowly and gently pulling him in and, after receiving exactly no resistance whatsoever, he pressed a short, gentle kiss onto his lips. He pulled back almost immediately, taking in the look of shock on Yosuke’s face.

Hm. He definitely wanted to kiss Yosuke again. He didn’t want to  _ stop _ either. Definitely a crush, then.

He wasn’t sure what was going on in Yosuke’s head, but this close he could see the warring emotions on his face and in his eyes, even in the darkness. One of Yosuke’s hands eventually came up to grip Souji’s hand, and he was so sure Yosuke was going to rip his hand away from his face, but on the contrary, he used it for leverage instead, pulling Souji forward and pushing himself in and kissing him, a longer kiss than the first one. 

They got...kind of lost, after that. Souji wasn’t really keeping track of things, too focused on how nice it felt to kiss Yosuke, on how one kiss seemed to just melt straight into another one with no effort. At some point they’d both moved into the space between the two futons and were slowly, carefully pressing themselves closer and closer together. When he felt Yosuke push a hand up the back of his shirt to gently drag blunt nails up his spine, Souji barely managed to suppress a moan. They broke away not long after that, panting to fill their lungs with badly needed oxygen. Souji leaned his forehead against Yosuke’s, and evidently the intimate eye contact was a little too much for him, because Yosuke simply just closed his eyes.

“This is...definitely a crush, Yosuke,” Souji said. Yosuke shuddered in response, but didn’t open his eyes. He was still moving his hand up and down underneath Souji’s shirt...Souji wondered if he was doing that on purpose, or if he even realized he was doing it in the first place.

“We...we could just be friends that kiss each-other,” Yosuke panted, and he sounded so nervous… afraid, even. 

“Sure,” Souji replied. “Friends with benefits, I guess. If that’s what you really want.” 

“W-well, what about you? You said yourself that you didn’t want to date anyone if you were just going to leave in the spring,” Yosuke pointed out, pulling away from Souji but finally opening his eyes. His hand slipped out of the back of Souji’s shirt, and Souji missed it already.

“Yeah,” Souji sighed. Yosuke looked so vulnerable right then - hair mussed up from where Souji had evidently been carding a hand through it while they kissed, lips red and a little puffy, cheeks red, sitting there in a borrowed pair of Souji’s pajamas…

On the one hand, Souji just wanted to kiss Yosuke again and, preferably, at every other given opportunity in the future. He wanted to hold his hand and make him blush, and whisper compliments in his ear until he believed in himself.

On the other hand, he was leaving in the spring. That seemed like such a long time, but from Souji’s experience it really, really wasn’t. He would be leaving and going back to a mostly empty apartment in the city, back to parents that would expect him to graduate and go on to college and eventually settle down with a wife and give them grandchildren. He...well, he couldn’t exactly do that with Yosuke, could he?

And there was another problem he wasn’t thinking about: the Midnight Channel. He hadn’t even so much as spared a single thought about how this new dynamic might affect things on the other side. Not, in fact, until they both heard the telltale ‘click’ of the TV turning on by itself, and they looked over to see nothing but static. It had been raining, of course, and Souji felt a little ashamed of the fact that he hadn’t even thought about staying up to make sure nobody would be on the TV. Yosuke, it seemed, was similarly surprised by it, so he didn’t feel quite as bad. They both watched in silence until the TV turned itself back off, and then they both gave a relieved sigh and turned back to look at eachother.

“This is a bad idea,” Souji said, and Yosuke nodded, apparently following his train of logic. Just to make sure they were on the same page, he continued. “We don’t know how being in a relationship will affect things over there.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke replied, with a sigh. “Yeah, and...man, I always thought I just liked girls,  you know? I only liked girls until you showed up. And if it got out to the school that we were dating… I don’t even want to think about it. I get enough hatemail as-is just by being ‘the Junes kid’.”

“Right,” Souji replied, nodding. “Right, yeah.”

“Yeah. We should just...stop whatever this is,” Yosuke added, looking up to lock eyes with Souji. Souji nodded. Despite all that, he still leaned in when Yosuke did, kissing Yosuke just as hungrily as Yosuke kissed him. Souji eventually found himself being pushed, and let Yosuke slowly push him down onto his futon and climb on top of him, long legs straddling his waist. He slipped a hand up the back of Yosuke’s shirt, the other hand firmly in Yosuke’s hair. This was nice. This was  _ really nice _ . Souji felt like he could do this all night, and all day, maybe forever…

“M-maybe we could just do this in your room, or in my room,” Yosuke panted, after breaking away from a particularly heated kiss.

“Mmm, sure, like a reward for studying,” Souji suggested, and Yosuke groaned.

“I don’t want to think about studying right now, dude,” he said, and Souji chuckled.

“Should you really be calling me ‘dude’ after you just had your tongue halfway down my throat?” he asked, with a smirk. Yosuke glowered at him, even as his face slowly turned red.

“S-shut up,” he grumbled. Souji made to retort, but Yosuke just dipped back down and shut him up rather effectively with his aforementioned tongue. He was a fairly good kisser, actually.

“So,” Souji started, after they’d pulled away again to breathe, “We both agree that this is nice and we should keep doing it.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, with a nod.

“We were already meeting once a week to study. Why not just ask if you can stay over here every week?” Souji suggested, and Yosuke nodded again.

“If I get good enough grades, my parents might just let me do that,” he said. Then, he bit his lip, looking shy. “Um, but...is once a week going to be enough?”

“Any more than that, and it’ll be like we’re dating,” Souji pointed out, and Yosuke, completely missing the teasing tone he’d taken on, nodded

“Y-yeah, and we both know that’s a bad idea, right?” he asked.

“And why’s that?” Souji asked, and Yosuke rolled his eyes and looked down at him.

“Um, aside from being in a town full of gossipy housewives and people that would do nothing but give us shit over it?” he asked. Souji nodded. “You said yourself we don’t know how that might change things over in the Midnight Channel, and you’re leaving next year, and I…” he trailed off. 

“You?” Souji asked, and Yosuke bit his lip, sitting up and away from Souji, who followed him into a sitting position, concerned.

“To be honest, I...I still don’t know how I feel about us both being guys. Like, obviously I like kissing you, but I dunno if I can do more than that...y’know, physically,” Yosuke admitted. 

“You’re thinking too far ahead,” Souji said. He reached over and took one of Yosuke’s hands in his own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Sex is a big step in a relationship. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be thinking about that now, but we shouldn’t just jump into it the first chance we get, either. I care enough about you to not want to screw that up.” Yosuke just nodded, so Souji continued. “And even if you aren’t sure about it, I think your body has already made up its mind, judging by the way you were kissing me.” Yosuke went bright red.

“Sh-shut up!” he protested but, tellingly, he didn’t take his hand back. Souji let him calm down for a moment, before he continued.

“My parents want me to settle down with a wife and give them grandchildren,” he said, and Yosuke laughed.

“Now who’s thinking too far ahead?” he asked, and Souji shook his head, smiling.

“I’m sure that’s what your parents want for you, too. What I’m saying is, even if I wasn’t going back to the city in the spring, this relationship would have to end eventually, even if I wasn’t leaving in April,” Souji said. Yosuke’s smile fell into a frown.

“Oh,” he said. “So we’re doomed from the start, huh?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Souji corrected. “I’m saying that we have a time limit...so we need to make use of what time we have, while we have it.”

“That doesn’t sound much better,” Yosuke complained.

“Let’s just see how things go. We don’t know if this will make anything weird happen in the TV. You don’t know if you want sex. I don’t know if I’ll want to break up with you at the end of the year, or try to keep things going long distance. I don’t know if I really want to follow the path my parents put me on or not, and I’m sure you don’t know if you do, either. There’s a lot we don’t know right now, so all we can do is see how things go one day at a time,” Souji said.

“Sure,” Yosuke replied, nodding. “One day at a time.”

“And I think we should start with going to sleep for today. It’s late,” Souji said.

“Aww,” Yosuke pouted. “No more kissing?” 

“Yosuke, I could kiss you all night,” Souji replied, without a trace of shame. He decided that he’d never get tired of the way Yosuke blushed when he said things like that. “But we do have school in the morning and I, for one, would like to stay awake long enough to take notes.”

“Not even a good night kiss?” Yosuke teased. Souji relented with a sigh, leaning in and letting Yosuke meet him halfway for a kiss that started out chaste, but ended with a little string of saliva connecting their mouths for a second when they parted. 

“G’Night, Partner,” Yosuke said, even though he made absolutely no move to pull any further away or remove his hands from where they were cradling Souji’s face.

“Good night,” Souji echoed. Yosuke leaned back in for another, brief kiss, which turned into two, and then three, before he finally pulled away, reluctantly, letting his hands drop away from Souji’s face. Souji pulled his own hands back from where they’d been resting on Yosuke’s hips, equally as reluctant to let go. They moved away from each-other and settled down into their respective futons. Souji waited patiently for his breathing to even out and his racing heart to calm down, listening to Yosuke’s equally ragged breathing just a few feet away from him. 

As much as he’d told Yosuke to take things day-by-day, Souji himself was just as impatient as Yosuke seemed to be. He wanted to kiss him until they were both breathless again, and keep kissing him until the sun came up, and then skip school to keep kissing him all day long. He supposed he’d have to settle for this...whatever this was, between them. This budding, half-relationship thing that they had going on. In a perfect world, Souji would want to walk in to the school tomorrow morning hand-in-hand with Yosuke and declare that he was dating the cutest, most amazing boy in the world and anyone that disagreed could fight him in the courtyard. He supposed he’d just have to settle for slipping Yosuke love notes, or whispering compliments to him, or stealing kisses when he knew the two of them were alone. They’d figure out this whole crazy thing together, one day at a time. But, for now, Souji really needed to go to sleep, or he would end up dozing through his morning classes.

**Author's Note:**

> This was available one week ago on my Patreon! I won't put a direct link here, but if you're interested in reading any of my future fics at least a week before they get posted here, just search for my username on Patreon. :)


End file.
